This is How the Story Ends
by GunRecon 11
Summary: Rue knows she won't be coming home. Based off of The Fray's "This is Where the Story Ends"


You'd think I'd be bitter. You'd think I'd be accusing, somber, shaken, anything other than smiling gracefully on this stage. You'd think I'd have cried when my family filtered in, one by one, to say goodbye. But I'm not, and I didn't. Because, really, I've never been this kind of scared before. Before, there was no finality to fear. Fear was always of what _could _happen, not what _will._

Not anymore. Because, with my head pressed against the glass of the train, I know. Maybe I knew as I walked up those steps, trying to figure out why I was smiling like a lunatic instead of crying or looking the least bit distraught. Maybe it was when my Mama cried into my shoulder, because I just felt so _old _then. By the time I got here, to my seat, while Chaff and Seeder drilled us both on what to expect in the Capitol, I definitely knew.

I've survived what most people didn't. Tracker jacker stings, falling from tree's, a brutal 20 lashes for theft when I was nine...some of the older people at home told me I was spinning a coin, that one day my luck would run out. I guess they were right.

Because no matter how much Seeder encourages me, I know I will not survive this. I am on a one-way ticket.

But this is a new kind of fear, or, I guess it's just new in this quantity. It's kind of like the fear I felt that horrible day, right before they tied me to the tree and raised that horrible whip. After that, I don't remember much. This is a lot like that, except I won't be remembering anything ever again. And, after all I've been through in the short time I've been here, I find it doesn't bother me in the least bit. I'll go out without regrets, and that alone is worth more than I can fathom.

_"I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry!" Mama sobbed. I smiled at her sadly, single tear wandering down my face, dripping onto my dress._

_"Don't be." I replied clearly, softly. On instinct, I pushed her head up so her eyes met mine. "Hey. It's okay. You can't stop this, nobody can. You tried your hardest, but you can't protect me from them."_

_"But-"_

_"But nothing. There's nothing else to do."_

_"Aren't you scared?" I laughed._

_"More than I've ever been!" I said, shaking my head. "But I'll be alright. I'm the lucky one, remember?"_

Even after all this, though, I still find somebody to latch onto. The girl from 12, Katniss...she's alright. I don't know why, but what she did for her sister...I trust her. Odd, since this is where we all go to stop trusting anybody, but she could put a dagger to my neck and I'd still trust her, less because I don't think she won't kill me, but more because she's like me to a degree. A part of her coincides with my attitude. She doesn't expect to survive, and I don't blame her. The odds are certainly _not _in our favor. The Careers look especially vicious this year.

_"Rue, I-" My Papa tries to talk the second he walks in. I hold my hand up to stop him._

_"Don't you dare say sorry, I've had enough of sorry." He grins ruefully (HA!) and sits down next to me, rubbing my back. I lean against his shoulder, and we both just sit there for a moment. We've never been close, mostly because I don't see him very often. He works odd shifts at the mechanics , keeping our archaic plows and grain processors running. I work the orchards. He has an "until it's done" schedule, my work isn't done until the end of fall. Father/daughter time was a rarity._

_Now, though, it's like he's trying to make up for lost time in the five minutes. It's a valiant effort, and I can admire him for that. _

_"How are you doing, kiddo?"_

_"I suppose saying "I'll live" isn't appropriate?" He and I shared a laugh at that, his booming chuckle filling the room. Suddenly, he grows very serious._

_"Don't give up on me just yet, little girl. You're my lucky flower, remember that."_

_"Oh, whatever. You named me "regret," I mean, how is that lucky?"_

_"It's not." he said softly, standing up. He began to leave, pausing at the door. "I named you Rue so people knew they'd regret messing with you. I love you."_

Katniss had more than her share of brutality, though, too. Granted, she didn't have a choice with the tracker jacker nest, but it was an absolutely horrible sight to see the trained and conditioned pack run like mad dogs from the golden swarm. That was when Katniss stopped being a tribute to me. Now, she was a victor.

Heh. Here I am judging tributes, writing people off and putting people on top. Something stupid could happen, somebody might stumble upon her when she was conked out like this.

So I guarded her, and healed her, all in the hope that she would let me help a little more.

_Periwinkle walked in hesitantly, my younger brother shy as always. I grinned at him, extending my as out. He ran for me, and I scooped the eight year old up and sat him down next to me._

_"Hey, you." I said, elbowing him. He looked downcast, so I elbowed him again. Harder._

_"That hurts!"_

_"Yeah, well, don't ignore me." He looked away, tears pricking at his eyes._

_"Look at me. Peri, look at me." He did so, and I locked eyes with him, somber and sincere._

_"You're the older brother now, got it? I need you to understand that. I need you to take care of Rosalie in all the ways Mama and Papa can't, understand?"_

_"But..."_

_"But what?"_

_"You say that like you aren't coming back." I shook my head, and hugged him. Of course, he was still so naive. He thought I was coming home. He would have to learn better._

_"Yeah."_

_"Why?"_

_"Because, Peri." I sighed, stroking his head. "I'm not."_

It's almost numb, now, the pain. I know that's bad, but I can't help but sigh a bit in relief. Katniss is over me, bow strung, asking me if there are any more. _Any more what? _I wonder, until I manage to tell ger no. Because she's asking about the one who put this foreign object into my body, this thing that feels so...so wrong.

There aren't any more people like him, and I tell her so. She falls to her knees next to me, and I half expect her to do some magic that brings me to my feet, ready for our next attack on the Careers. I can almost hear myself: _"Wow, that was close! What next?!"_

I've gone through so much, and now that old fear has returned. The one of certainty, the one I will never be able to change.

I've gone through so much, but I won't survive this.

It's all just as surreal as the day I was reaped, except now it is set in stone. This is the day Rue Graveleons dies. This is the day I take my last breath, and, after all this time, I still think that's okay.

_Rosalie stepped in last, climbing into my lap, just like I was about to tell her a bedtime story. She was shaken, and sad, and confused. She was five. She didn't fully understand the reaping yet, but that was okay. She would._

_"Hey." I whispered, rocking her back and forth. "You're getting awfully big for me to hold."_

_"Where are you going?" She asked in her little toddler voice. Now I start to falter, not sure how to tell her that her little sister won't be around anymore._

_"You know those stories I tell you at bed time? The ones about knights and castles and dragons?" She smiled excitedly, and I grinned back._

_"Yeah, yeah!"_

_"Those stories have to end, right? So we can go to sleep, otherwise we'd listen to bedtime stories forever!" _

_"Cool!"_

_"But we'd be stuck." I said sadly. "No more playing. Just stories. That wouldn't be any fun, would it?"_

_"I guess not." she admitted._

_"Well, real life is a lot like those stories."_

_"Really? There's dragons, and-"_

_"Sort of. But every story has an ending, right?"_

_"Yeah." I was crying silently now, barely choking out the next few words._

_"This is how my story ends, Rosalie." I pause, trying hard not to break down. "It's time for me to go to sleep."_

_"I don't like this ending. Change it!" She demands. I give her a shaky grin._

_"I can't. But you know what?"_

_"What?"_

_"This might be where my story ends, but yours is just beginning. So go!" I shouted, and she smiled."You'll see me again, you know that? You will. And then you can tell me your story, so make it a good one, eh?" I'm openly crying, but she doesn't notice, running towards the door. "Because it will be!" The door slams shut, and I look down and finish my sentence._

_"It'll be the best." I said. "And I will not forget one second of this, I swear. I'll always remember when the big sister, the protector, was me."_

I can't hear the song Katniss is singing, but I'm sure it's heartbreakingly beautiful because she's crying, and the mockingjays are singing. My vision begins to tunnel, blurring into a thousand shades of white. The song fades away, and, as all these shades of white snap together, in the distance I hear a cannon, then a loud roaring. As it consumes my every sense, only one thought remains that is my own:

_This is how my story ends._


End file.
